Brookfield Zoo debuts litter of 10 African painted dog puppies

A litter of 10 African painted dog pups are now calling Brookfield Zoo home.

The litter is made up of five female and five male painted dogs. They were born on Nov. 25 to first-time mom Roanne, who was also born at the west suburban zoo six years ago.

Racquel Ardisana-Penney is the associate director of carnivore and small mammal care and conservation at the zoo. She helped the new puppies reach their desired milestones like nutrition and vaccinations before incorporating them with their extended family.

“We’re excited for our guests to finally see them,” Ardisana-Penney said. “It’s very exciting for us to get to see them explore the outside world. They are going to be seeing a whole bunch of new things and getting a whole bunch of new experiences.”

The new African painted dog pups, including mom Roanne and dad Kellan, tentatively explored their new home inside the Habitat Africa! The Savannah outdoor habitat for the first time on Tuesday.

Though initially timid, the pups followed their parents’ lead into their habitat, with some pups showing more boldness and practicing their high-pitched, bird-like vocalizations known as twittering.

“Painted dogs make a lot of different vocalizations, but they’re just communicating with each other their excitement,” Ardisana-Penney said. “They also do a greeting ceremony, typically when they get up for the first time during the day, or when they get up for a hunt. It kind of gets them all excited and ready to go do something.”

Although too young to hunt, Ardisana-Penney said the pups were already engaging in essential pack behavior.

Ardisana-Penney described African painted dogs as “highly social and strikingly patterned carnivores.” Each dog has a unique coat consisting of patches of black, brown, white and yellow. In the wild, they typically hunt in packs to catch prey, such as antelopes, rodents and birds.

Kellan, the dad, was introduced to the zoo a year ago specifically to mate with the pups’ mother.

“He was a good genetic match with Roanne, and so we brought him here for the purpose of breeding, ” Ardisana-Penney said.

Ardisana-Penney said painted dogs can have large litters between 18 to 20 dogs at a time, but seven or eight is more common for first-time mothers.

“We were surprised when we had 10,” she said.

According to zoo experts, African painted dogs once numbered in the hundreds of thousands across Africa. However, they require extensive ranges and decent pack sizes, and their population numbers have decreased in recent years. Fewer than 7,000 are estimated to remain in the wild.

That has made the small carnivores one of Africa’s most endangered predators.

Brookfield Zoo’s last litter of African painted dog puppies was born in 2020. With the new additions they are now caring for a total of 13 African painted dogs.

African painted dogs are part of the Species Survival Plan at Brookfield Zoo Chicago.

The Zoo also participates in the AZA-SAFE — or Saving Animals From Extinction — African Painted Dog Program to identify survival threats support recovery of endangered animals.